8 Chinese die in ROK detention center fire

At least eight Chinese nationals were killed and 17 others injured yesterday after a predawn fire engulfed an immigration detention facility in the southern part of the Republic of Korea (ROK), an official at the Chinese embassy in Seoul said yesterday.

One Uzbek was also killed and a Sri Lankan injured, Zhao Dengyu, a consul at the Chinese embassy, said in a telephone interview.

Some of the victims still need to be identified as no passport was found on them, said Zhao, who is dealing with the incident on the site in Yeosu 450 km south of Seoul.

The death toll is expected to increase as many of the injured, mostly from China, are in critical condition suffering from burns and the effects of inhaling toxic gas, according to local police.

Officials said most of the victims were killed after inhaling smoke from the fire, which broke out at 3:55 am yesterday morning on the third floor of the four-story building where 55 foreigners were detained.

Most were believed to have been detained at the facility for questioning since they were caught trying to enter the ROK illegally, said Zhao.

Twenty-eight other foreigners in custody at the facility were rescued.

ROK immigration officials said a short circuit from a television set on the third floor is believed to have caused the fire, the Yonhap News Agency reported.

Nine ROK officials and security guards were at the facility but failed to reach the cells in time due to iron-bar windows, Lee Bok-nam, head of the immigration office in Yeosu, was quoted by Yonhap as saying.

Lee said his office would soon contact family members of those killed and injured to discuss compensation.

The fire was put out about an hour later after 27 fire trucks and 120 firemen were sent to the scene.

"They were unable to put out the flames in the first minutes of the blaze because of the iron bars on the window," Lee said.

Following the accident, ROK Prime Minister Han Myong-soo ordered the Justice Ministry to conduct an in-depth investigation into the incident and expressed regrets to foreign victims and their families.

She demanded the authorities review the detention system for foreigners and prevent similar accidents, the Office of the Prime Minister said.

Yeosu police had initially said 10 people were dead, but one person later turned out to be alive, an official at the National Emergency Management Agency said on condition of anonymity.

The immigration office in Yeosu has been accused of failing to quickly release the detained foreigners after the fire was discovered, according to the Korean Herald.

The deaths occurred in the closed rooms filled with toxic fumes from the burning mattresses which were made with urethane. Urethane emits toxic gas when it burns. Iron bars blocked any escape through windows, it reported.

Neither the fire alarm nor the sprinkler system operated during the blaze.

The immigration office received a warning from the National Human Rights Commission of Korea in 2005 for maltreatment of detained immigrants.

Foreigners had made an official complaint to the human rights watchdog, claiming that they were being treated like "pigs in cages".

Agencies contributed to the story .